Harvest / Processing

Producing Black Tea

The gren tea leaves are mainly plucked by women, thanks to their
delicate hands, who are wearing a basket or linen over their shoulder
in which they are collecting the leaves. The rule „two leaves and the
bud“ is strictly followed. The plucked leaves are examined on the
collection point and weighed before the actual processing starts which
is divided into five separate processes:

1) Withering

Here, the thick and still immalleable leaf is rid of approximately 30% of its humidity. There are two methods:

a) The natural withering where the leaves are spread out on laths which
are covered with jute, wire or nylon nets. The withering time takes,
depeding on the weather and humidity content of the leaves, between
14-18 hours.

b) The modern withering in large troughs of a length
of 25-30 metres which are covered with wire grids and are ventilated
with large ventilators. These can also be used to warm the leaves,
should it be necessary, to reduce the withering time to 8-12 hours.

2) Rolling

Orthodox Method

With the help of press spindles or
rollers where the still green leaves are cut open and the released cell
fluid reacts with the oxygen in the air (= oxidation similar to that of
a bitten into apple). This process takes 30 minutes each and is
repeated 3 times. The damp and lumpy, now dark green leaves are
scattered with the help of a shaking or sieving machine.

CTC - Method (= Crushing – Tearing – Curling)

Once
rolled for 30 minutes, the entire leaves are torn in specially
constructed thorn drums. The stems and leaf ribs are separated as far
as possible and only the torn "meat" of the leaves is processed
further. This simple processing gives much higher yields compared to
the classical production method. Due to the large internal demand, this
method is used in India in 50% of the entire processing today.

3) Fermentation

This oxidation and
fermentation process already starts with the rolling. The leaves are
spread out on large boards in 10-15 cm thick layers in a special room
with a room temperature of 40°C for 2/3 hours and additionally
sprenkled with water. Thereby, the leaf takes up its copper-red to
brown colour and starts to unfold its unique aroma which can be found
again, when the tea is infused. The correct fermentation is very
important for the final quality of the tea.

4) Drying

On the high point of the
fermentation, the leaves are transported through so-called tiered
dryers on metal conveyor belts. The tea is dried for approximately 20
minutes with hot air of 80-90°C which makes the cell fluid stick to the
leaves and gives it its dark brown to black colour. The final humidity
of the leaves is betwenn 5-6%.

5) Sieving/Sorting

The finished tea is
then sorted into common grades via mechanical jarring sieves. A good,
high-yielding production has the following results / qualities:

Further
quality descriptions, like above, are formed out of these
abbreviations. Black tea usually has a dark-brown until black leaf and
can taste anything from fine-flowery to fully aromatic and strong.

The green tea production is differentiated into two methods, the Chinese and the Japanese method.

Production Green Tea => China

1) Plucking

The
gren tea leaves are mainly plucked by women, thanks to their delicate
hands, who are wearing a basket or linen over their shoulder in which
they are collecting the leaves. The rule „two leaves and the bud“ is
strictly followed. The plucked leaves are examined on the collection
point and weighed before they are transported to the tea factory. Here,
the supplied amounts are weighed again and registered before the actual
tea production is started.

2) Withering

Good
qualties are spread out on laths which are covered with jute, wire or
nylon nets and placed out in the sun to wither. The withering time
takes, depending on the weather and humidity content of the leaf,
between 14-18 hours. Normal qualities are spread on large sieves for
the withering process. Huge ventilators blow air from below through the
leaf layers. 30% of the still thick, immalleable leaf's humidity is
reduced during the withering process.

3) Heating

Now,
the leaves are heated for 10 minutes with 280°C in wok-like, cast-iron
pans. The leaves are pressed against the hot surface and turned.
Sometimes, also larger, automatic drums are used in this process. Due to the impact of the heat, the plant's own enzymes are converted.
An oxidation can no longer take place and, hence, the green colour and
the rather fresh or herb taste are preserved.

4) Rolling

In
a so-calle rolling machine, the tea leaves are put in betwee two
rotating metal plates. This process takes approximately 15 minutes.

5) Drying

Subsequently, the leaves are put into special dryers. Here, there are two turning discs which are heated to 160°C.

Production Green Tea => Japan

Nowadays,
the process of green tea distribution in Japan is almost entirely
automated. The process is somewhat more complicated than that of the
Chinese. It comprises the following steps:

1) Withering

The withering reduces approximately 30% of the humidity content of the leaf within a time of 4-12 hours.

2) Steaming

The
leaves are now moved through a turning drum. Hot steam is added. After
about 2 minutes, the leaves are extracted again. The amount of steam is
the deciding factor in this step. Too much spoils the leaves and too
little initiates the onset of the fermentation.

3) Drying

In
a wooden drum, the leaves are now swivelled around for approximately 30
minutes in 55°C warm air. Large forks are turning inside the drum in
order to prevent the lumping of the leaves. During this process, the
leaves lose about 50% of their rest humidity content.

4) Rolling

Now, the leaves are rolled in a rolling machine for about 10 minutes with differing pressure.

5) Drying

A
further drying sequence follows. The leaves are brought into contact
with hot air for approximately 30 minutes in order to dry them further.

6) Polishing

In some
factories, the leaves are now polished. This is done via pressing the
leaves against a hot plate. This makes the leaves very flat and
glowing. However, this step is not vital.

7) Drying

The leaves are now dried a final time for about 20-30 minutes with a
temperature of 60°C. The finished green tea contains a rest humidity of
ca. 3-4%.